


Rose Tint My World

by beanenthusiast



Category: Unwind Dystology - Neal Shusterman
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Multi, No unwinding, Recreational Drug Use, Shadowcast, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, connor and risa are bi, eventual OT3, hayden is gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 09:21:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24847480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beanenthusiast/pseuds/beanenthusiast
Summary: Connor Lassiter, average college guy, gets himself into a weekly shadowcast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at his school. He's never given much thought to relationships, his sexuality, or anything involving musical theatre, but all of that is about to change.
Relationships: Connor Lassiter/Hayden Upchurch, Connor Lassiter/Risa Ward
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	1. He Can't Dance! He Can't Sing!

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this, my first published fic in years. Much of this is based off of my own experience, but I want to keep it pretty light for the most part. These kids are dumb as hell and they deserve some happiness for once.

In all of his time at Rheinschild College, Connor Lassiter hadn’t felt unfulfilled, exactly. He got okay grades, played on the club ultimate frisbee team, stayed mostly out of trouble, had a decent group of friends (and even a girlfriend the previous year), and had so far convinced himself that it was likely that he’d get a decent job and an apartment in the city after graduation. His little brother, Lucas, was always the ambitious one, with the cross-country titles and trombone playing and stellar attendance record. Connor was content with the life he’d made for himself and figured it would be more or less the same for the remainder of his time in school.

One Friday afternoon in late September, Connor arrived home from his technical writing class, slinging his backpack onto his desk chair with a thunk. His roommate, Argent, lay on his own unmade bed, apparently intently interested in the ceiling. Argent was a pretty okay guy and had been Connor’s roommate since they’d had a lecture class together their sophomore year. He talked a little too much and left his side of the room a mess, but Connor could deal with that. After a seriously rough frosh year living with a giant guy who tried to strangle him over a bag of Cheetos, Argent’s talkativeness and lack of any kind of ambition was a welcome reprieve. He was also a massive pothead. True to form, Connor had smelled the weed from out in the hallway, Argent’s favorite bong sitting nonchalantly on top of their bookshelf which rarely held any actual books.

“Hey, man,” Connor said.

“’Sup, dude,” Argent replied, more of a statement than a question. 

“You realize you could probably smell that from the stairwell, right?” It was a conversation the two had frequently.

“Connections, man. I got connections.”

Argent’s story was that the head of Res Life for their building was a distant cousin who owed him a favor or was hoping to someday swindle some insurance money that Argent might have some claim to or something like that. Connor, however, was pretty sure it was because the RAs in their building were just never around and probably wouldn’t have cared anyway. He knew that Bryce the RA theoretically lived three doors down, his door marked by an outdated on-duty schedule and a basket of condoms on the floor. 

“What are you doing tonight?” Connor asked.

“Gonna play Halo with the guys. Drake says he got a coupon emailed for like 40% off a Domino’s order, so probably gonna put that to good use. Want in?”

At the mention of pizza, Connor felt his stomach start to grumble. He hadn’t eaten yet today, having just gotten out of bed in time to roll to his mercifully nearby 1 PM class. 

“Yeah, sure,” Connor said. He had, as he often did, some thought that he ought to be doing something more exciting with his weekend than playing video games and drinking PBR with his suitemates, but not caring enough to try to organize anything more interesting. 

“Sweet. You want a hit?”

“Nah, not right now.” Connor began to scroll mindlessly through his Twitter feed, not really absorbing anything beyond a few headlines and what had to be some new meme, something about a can of peaches? He was getting too old to keep up with this shit. “I’ve got to email my Econ professor about that last test—I know he says he doesn’t curve, but, like, my grade is majorly suffering and it’s not really my fault I keep sleeping through his class, right? If he wanted people to show up, he wouldn’t have scheduled it for 10 AM.”

Argent grunted in vague commiseration. Despite what he had told Argent, Connor continued to browse his timeline, eyes glazing over. There would be time later to write a professional yet suitably pleading email to Dr. Dunfee. That’s what the weekend was for. 

“Hey, can we get those garlic knots with the cheese in them when we order the pizza?”

“Oh fuck, brah. Those would hit,” Argent groaned. 

“I’ll text Drake.”

A minute later, a familiar Southern-accented voice called through the wall by Connor’s bed.

“You realize we live right next to y’all, right?”

“Less convenient to have to yell,” Connor called. “So, garlic knots?”

“Yeah, ‘course!”

“Nice.”

Connor fell back onto his bed, content. That was enough excitement for his evening, for sure. He’d get in his sweats, take a couple rips off Argent’s bong, and get on with ignoring his responsibilities until Sunday evening. 

Suddenly, Argent’s phone began to ring, blasting what sounded suspiciously like the first verse of “Wild Wild West.”

“Why do you have your ringer on?”

Argent just shrugged and continued to ignore the sound.

“Are you gonna answer it?”

Argent glanced blearily at his phone screen and, reading the caller ID, immediately shot upright.

“Dude, holy shit,” he exclaimed.

“What?”

“It’s that super hot girl from my physics class! Reese, I think her name is? Lena? Something like that."

“Why’s she calling you?”

Argent shrugged more urgently.

“Answer it!”

Connor couldn’t remember which particular hot girl this was, but if Argent could manage to get some, more power to him. Connor had to live vicariously through somebody. 

“Uh, hello? What? … I don’t know what that is.” Argent made a gesture of helplessness in Connor’s general direction. “Yeah, no, I don’t dance. Yeah, I have a roommate. He doesn’t dance either. Uh… I’ll see what I can do. …. I guess? Okay, talk to you in Physics.”

“Dude, what was that?” Connor asked the second he saw Argent hang up the phone.

“I blew it,” Argent moaned. “She wanted me to go to a thing but I’m so baked that I panicked and told her I couldn’t do it. Oh, god, she’s so pretty. I’m an idiot.”

“She wanted you to go dancing with her?”

“Something like that. And then she asked about you and wanted to know if you could dance and I didn’t know what to say to that because, like, all I’ve seen you do is the Cupid Shuffle and like, no offense, dude, but it wasn’t even that good of a Cupid Shuffle.”

Connor couldn’t argue with that.

“So what exactly did you tell the hot girl from your physics class that I would do?”

“She said to meet in the basement of the arts building at 7. They needed somebody for a ‘picture show’?”

“A what?”

Argent just stared blankly. 

“Beats me. Good luck, man.”


	2. You Call That a Man?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor gets to know the rest of the cast.

Connor sprinted past the woman at the front desk of the arts building, holding up his ID as he dashed past, grimacing apologetically. He’d never been in this building in his life, as he’d taken a film class to fulfill his Arts requirement and finding it was trickier than he would have thought, given the relatively small size of the campus. He raced down the stairs until he arrived in an atrium of sorts, a large carpeted room with a few tables and chairs pushed to the sides and what looked like classroom doors on either wall. Seated in an approximate circle on the floor was a group of students, all engrossed in their phones or laptops. There had been several loud conversations happening at once, but when Connor arrived in the room, the chatter died down almost at once.

“Are you Connor?” a girl with long, dark hair asked.

“Yeah, that’s me,” he responded, scratching his neck for a lack of anything else to do.

“Well, come on, get over here, let’s get started,” a blonde boy called. Connor did what he was told and took a seat between two younger-looking students. All eyes seemed to be on him.

“Uh, hey.”

“He’s kinda tall, brown hair. Looks like he’d look decent in his underwear,” the blonde kid said to the dark-haired girl. 

“We’ve never even met him!” the girl hissed, clearly not intending to be heard.

“I’m just saying, looks-wise, he’s got potential.”

“Anyways,” the girl said loudly, addressing the entire group while specifically staring Connor down. “This is the official Rheinschild College shadow cast for a little movie we like to call The Rocky Horror Picture Show. We perform every Friday night at midnight. Usually to very small, very drunk audiences consisting of our roommates, as none of us have any other friends.”

The blonde boy beside her looked as if he might argue but decided against it. 

“We don’t usually approach people for the cast, least of all in the middle of the school year, but as one of our main cast members has recently and unexpectedly moved to Canada, we find ourselves in a bit of a pickle,” said the blonde. “Hence where you come in, new kid. At least for tonight.”

“We can’t guarantee you a real spot,” the girl interjected. “But we’re supposed to go on in a couple of hours and Ralphie informed us of his move oh, about 3 PM? So we needed a body, and I guess that would be you.”

“First and foremost: have you seen the film?” asked the blonde.

“Uh, no.”

“We’re doomed,” said the boy, burying his face melodramatically in the girl’s hair. 

“So that’ll be our first mission,” the girl said, her expression impenetrable. “Who owns the movie? We’re watching it right now.”

“Do we even know his name yet?” asked a girl from across the circle. “It don’t feel right doing this unless we get to know him first.”

“Fine,” said the girl, clearly exasperated. “Let’s go around. Name, year, major, let’s get this over with.”

“Ooh, what about kitchen utensil you’d be? That’s a fun one.” 

The girl, who was clearly in charge, looked like she very badly wanted to roll her eyes but resisted. 

“Okay, and kitchen instrument you’d be.”

“And why!”

The girl didn’t even dignify that with a response. 

“Hey,” she said, brushing a lock of curly hair impatiently out of her face. “I’m Risa, senior, bio major on the pre-med track, music minor. Me and Hayden run this operation, so get used to us being in charge. And I guess I’d be a fork because you’d always benefit from having me around.”

Connor suddenly made the connection—she was the one who called Argent, the famous “hot girl from Physics”. He could certainly see why Argent was enamored. She was solid-looking but also softly curvaceous. Connor could imagine, just by looking at her, what her body would feel like against his own and he felt a slight flush come to his face. Her eyes were dark and piercing, highly expressive and seeming to be taking stock of everything about him as the newcomer. Connor hoped that her scrutiny of him was equally flattering, but by the guarded slant of her gaze made him worry otherwise.

He was pulled out of his daydreaming by the objectively gorgeous-looking boy to Risa’s left-- a bodybuilder-looking guy with sculpted features and electric blue eyes who introduced himself (kind of pompously, Connor thought) as Cam, a junior double-major in Philosophy and Physics. Connor found himself wondering distantly if he was also in Argent and Risa’s physics class and how well acquainted he was with Risa. Cam announced that he would be a melting pot, able to combine different elements and make them taste good together, which made Connor roll his eyes. He was no chef, but he’d never heard anyone call an actual object a ‘melting pot’. 

The girl on Cam’s other side with black hair nearly to her butt introduced herself as Una, a senior Music major who sees herself as an oven glove. The young-looking boy next to Connor was Lev, a sophomore World Religions major (and a teaspoon, apparently). Then it was Connor’s turn.

“Uh, hey, I’m Connor. I’m a senior, an Engineering major.”

“Kitchen instrument!” the excitable girl stage whispered.

“Oh yeah. I guess I’d be a mallet? Because… I’m not great with subtlety.” She gave him a big thumbs-up in response. 

“Hello, I’m Miracolina, and before you ask, don’t try to shorten it. Seriously. I’m a freshman and technically undeclared, but I’m planning on a double major in Classics and Dance. I’d be a measuring cup.”

“Hiya,” the get-to-know you girl said, beaming. “I’m Grace, I’m a senior, Business major with a minor in Econ, and I’d be a potato peeler ‘cause I’m sharper than I look.”

“Hey. My name is Mason, but everyone calls me Starkey.” The kid, Starkey, shot Connor a sly grin. “Nice to meet you. I’m a junior, double major in Psychology and Theatre, so, any questions about the thespian life, feel free to ask. I’d be a whisk.”

“Hi, I’m Bam, junior, Soc major, strainer because I’m good at getting rid of bullshit.”

“Good evening,” Risa’s cohort announced, grinning broadly and showing off a mouthful of braces. “My name is Hayden Upchurch, I’m a senior at this institution, a Media Studies major with a minor in Computer Science, and I think I’d be a melon baller. Very good at a specific task and not much else. Oh, and I’m the star of the show,” he added, putting a hand to his chest in a gesture of faux-modesty. 

He was an interesting-looking boy, long and lanky, appearing taller than most everyone else in the room. Dirty blonde hair styled in a way to suggest it hadn’t taken nearly as long as it had, a young-looking face, and wearing a button-down patterned with what seemed to be pigs. And of course, a smirk that seemed permanently affixed to his face, as if the entire world around him were a raunchy joke. 

“All right, that’s done with.” Risa declared. “Somebody pull up Amazon and turn on the subtitles. New kid, you want to watch the dorky-looking guy with the glasses. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Kudos and comments would make me very happy <3

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Idk when an update will be out, but hopefully soon. Please leave kudos or even drop me a comment if you did -- it would make my day <3


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